Phipps Brothers Millwork

07/16/2026

Ans finally! Was quite a project but client has a new, safe, solid, NON-SQUEAKING stair for their family of five!

07/15/2026

And after a 2-day delay waiting for the correct size balusters, so typical in construction, the upper balcony (somewhat less than 2 days’ work) is complete!

07/14/2026

About the end of Day 5, inevitable delivery delays included — leaving a complete set of treads/risers and all the upper landing tread…and a few “during” pics for all those interested 😂. The clients were coming home from vacation so I put up a safety barrier (not pictured) where the old balustrade was

07/13/2026

End of Day 2 — cut a crazy stringer and wrestled with for most of the day….then pulled off a pretty darn good floor repair I must say…much easier for me to do it now then have the floor guys really struggling with it later…..nearly 200 years and modern white oak floors fits absolutely exactly…that was satisfying

07/12/2026

The 1847 Farmhouse project continued: End of day 1…lot of setup and and boring demo, but now you know exactly what you’re up against…like the lack of a central stringer, which is why the treads eventually failed and became dangerous…also the original framers, probably born when Thomas Jefferson was still alive, senselessly cut away the bottom of the stringer to install the stair post

ACTUAL BARK on these “studs”

The floor at the base of the stair an entire degree off 😩…

But in the middle of the stair it’s “only” 3/4 degree off…this will be a tough framing job!..

Problem here is that this original flooring was cut out around the original post, so now there’s a huge gap the new post won’t cover 😮

Also the original carpenters, lacking anything except basic handsaws and handplanes, relieved the backs of the risers in order to make them fit, and I’m gonna have to make up for this somehow!

07/11/2026

OK I’m going to do a daily post demonstrating the replacement of this 180-year-old stair and balustrade. It’s always sad not being able to keep an original feature of an old house, but these stairs were made of Chestnut which is very soft and are in such poor condition that the family of 5 are in serious danger. More to come

06/16/2026

02/25/2026

Door people hope Open Concept dies a slow death…turned cased openings into custom double-door sets for the kids’ study room …this house needs quiet 😀. is very good about custom doors

02/12/2026

Curving any piece of wood is a challenge but this curved riser and landing tread wasn’t as hard as it looks 😂. The floor guys will fill the flooring later using the same template I made.

01/26/2026

My favorite handrail ever, I don’t know why except I wanted the handrail stepdown (“gooseneck”) to match the baseboard wall skirt below it exactly. Custom made Winder treads (the ones that turn at 45°) by yours truly!